Mark 5:1-20

It is a new day and a new week.  I haven't missed a day yet!  I don't know that you will fully realize how big of an accomplishment that is.  Now, on to Mark...

South's SOAP for the Day
S-Read Mark 5:1-20.
O-By sending the demons into the pigs, Jesus allowed someone’s livelihood to be destroyed for the sake of one man’s life.
A-What are you willing to let be destroyed for the sake of others?
P-Pray for the courage to allow Jesus to work, no matter the cost.


Have you ever been anywhere where there is someone famous around?  I remember one time back in the 90s when the president of the time was coming to Northeast Ohio to talk about something.  That morning, as I drove from my home in East Canton to The University of Akron, I passed probably 50 police cars.  There was a police car at every on ramp and off ramp and on every overpass.  They had to keep the president safe.  I would assume that wherever he was speaking also went through lots of preparation, making sure things were secure.  More importantly, they probably did some cleaning and organizing, AND made sure that everyone who was important was going to be there.  He is the president after all!

As I read our passage for today, I'm struck by the welcoming committee in the story.  No dignitaries, no college or high school bands.  No fancy carpets or fanfare.  No, for Jesus, it is simply the town's naked, crazy, demon possessed man who lives in the graveyard.  Mark tells us that this is no run of the mill crazy man.  No, this guy is so possessed that no one can bind him, not even with chains.  Welcome to our village, Jesus!

I think its a bit more intriguing that its the demons who come and find out Jesus.  One would think that if the enemy is coming to town, those who oppose him would either go and hide somewhere so he wouldn't see them, or they would be standing out along the road picketing his arrival.  I doubt there would be no interaction. That's not the case in our story.  The dude comes running up to Jesus, falls at his feet and asks, "What do you want of me, Jesus, son of the most high God?  In God's name don't torture me!"

Lets stop and think for a minute.  The demon in the guy comes before Jesus.  He acknowledges Jesus as who he is, the son of the most high God.  He inquires from Jesus what Jesus wants of him.  And, most intriguing to me, he asks in the name of God, that Jesus would not torture him.  This is an enemy surrendering, acknowledging the head coach of the other team, and asking, in the name of the coach, that he be treated fairly.  The presence of Jesus has an authority about it, in a good way, in a world changing way, both spiritually and physically.  We'll come back to that in a moment....

The conversation between Jesus and the demon/demons continues.  The way Mark portrays the conversation is Jesus asking a simple few questions and the demon/demons doing most of the talking.  Again they plead for Jesus to be gentle with them and then they suggest he send them off to a herd of pigs that are near by.  Pigs were unclean and vile to Jews in the time of Jesus.  That Jesus is in a place where there is a herd of pigs is extremely intriguing to me.  He's on the Eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, in a place that is more Greek than Jewish.  I also find it humorous that the demons, maybe knowing that the Jewish faith had issues with swine, saw an opportunity to keep Jesus from torturing them by asking to go into the pigs...not that we ever have an instance of Jesus torturing an evil spirit.

Jesus grants them their wish.  They take off for the pigs, and then the pigs to a little cliff diving.  Again, its is humorous to me.  It is not very humorous to the pig herders though.  Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.  You are there in the field taking care of business.  You see a man talking with the town crazy.  I wonder if that struck you as odd?  The next thing you know, your pig herd is acting all crazy and bolting towards the steep bank to commit swine-icide.  (Sorry.  I had to...)  Your food source is now gone.  Your livelihood is now dead and floating in the lake.  You do what any normal person would do.  You go tell everyone in the town what happened!

In a flash, the demon possessed guy is healed.  The swine are gone.  The whole town has been drawn out to the countryside to see what is going on.  Everyone is there.  They see the man who was once impossible to bind and clothe there dressed and calm.  Are they amazed?  Mark tells us they were afraid.  I think I could relate to that.  I've never been around a demon.  I've never seen or heard of someone casting out a demon.  If I were to ever witness any of it, I am sure I would be afraid.  How could you not?  The townspeople are afraid.  Just like the demon, they begin to plead with Jesus--pleading with him to leave.

My big question at this point is what are Jesus and the disciples doing through all of this?  Are they standing there quietly taking it all in?  Is Jesus responding to the townspeople?  Has he apologized to the pig farmers?

And then there is the dude that was healed.  Jesus has changed his life.  I'm sure his reputation in the city is ruined.  It makes sense that he wants to go with Jesus.  Yet, Jesus won't let him.  Rather, he tells him to go to his "own people" and proclaim what his interaction with the Kingdom of God has done to his life.

There is so much more in the background that Mark doesn't let us in on.  Why is that? Maybe he wants us to keep us focused on something?  My best guess at the moment, thinking back over the other stories we have recently been through in Mark.  My mind goes back to the Parable of the Sower.  The disciples strained to get the point of the parable.  And, then, here in front of them, they are seeing it played out.  The disciples have seen the good news sowed in front of them.  The townspeople and the pig farmers have seen and heard what happened to the demon possessed man.  Yet, in what they heard they are at the best, driven to fear and at the worst, unchanged.  That makes them either the poor, rocky soil or the path at this point.  The good news does nothing.  It doesn't grow.  It doesn't take hold of anything.  It's wasted.  Its almost as if the ground spits the seed out.

Then there is the demon possessed man.  He's the fertile soil.  The good news, through the power of Jesus, has totally changed his life.  In a few moments we see the seed planted, we see it sprout, and we see it grow to an almost maturity.  What what does Jesus tell the man?  Go and spread the good news to your people.

Who are you in the story?  Are you being Jesus to those around you?  Are you living in a way that the evil spirits see you, engage, and ask you to deal with them nicely?  Or, are you like the townspeople, seeing everything happen with a callousness and a lack of faith?  Maybe you are the possessed man, in need of healing from the demons that bind you, that keep you from living.

I said this a few days ago, and I'll say it again today.  God doesn't care who you have been or where you have come from.  He's about restoring and making new.  He's for healing and giving new life.  Don't be like the townspeople or the pig farmers.  Hear the good news!  Allow it to change your life.  If you need help figuring this out and taking the next step in your faith journey, please let me know.  We would love to help you grow!

Lord, thank you for the gospel that Mark gives us.  Thank you for allowing us to read about who Jesus was and how your creation interacted with him.  May we be challenged by the good news, challenged to seek you out for hope, forgiveness, and new life!